Next painting target: 24th Foot

24th Foot so far

Having finished over forty Force Publique figures in the last couple of weeks and being well on the way with 20 Carthaginian veterans the next mass painting project will be my Empress Miniatures 24th Foot. I've got over forty to do (and no doubt will pick up a few more at Warfare this weekend) but I am now coping with doing dozens of figures, rather than a handful, at a time.

At the weekend I based and undercoated the figures I hadn't already started. By the end of this coming weekend I would like to have completed all the hands and faces base coat and, possibly, the jackets too.

New Zulus from Foundry

Well, in something of an unexpected move Foundry have come out with eight packs of Zulu warriors sculpted by their new sculptor Ronnie Shilton (who sounds like a big band leader). I have to say that these look like excellent figures with beautifully rendered shields. At £10.75 for six, however, they are a lot more expensive than the Empress figures at £5 for four or the Wargames Factory ones at £15 for 30 figures. If you buy the deal you get 48 figures for £73.40 but for £1.60 more you could get 150 Wargames Factory figures!

It seems a curious choice for Foundry but then curious choices are the stock in trade of this once great company. All the warrriors are spear armed and it seems a shame that they haven't taken the opportunity to do some with rifles, which are sadly short in the other ranges; particularly shooting poses rather than waving rifles in the air poses. Something like Mark Copplestones's lovely Azande musketmen poses are what are needed for Zulu armies.

Nevertheless, next time I send in a Foundry order (and I've just had one back, annoyingly) I will order a couple of packs to see what they are like.